In November 1998, Greek-Cypriot police arrested two Israelis, Udi Hargov, 27 and Igal Damary, 49, and accused them of spying.
They were caught with a radio scanner, tapes of Cypriot police or army communications and maps in the fishing village of Ziyi, where a nearby Cypriot Army exercise was taking place.
The Cypriots suspected they were spying for Turkey in connection to the recent Greek-Cypriot purchase of Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missiles.
There were fears that Israel would train Turkish pilots on how to bomb the missile sites.
The two men entered Cyprus with false passports in October and there was evidence of phone communications with an "intelligence institute" in Tel Aviv just prior to their arrest.
Following initial denials that the two men were Mossad agents, Israeli officials began diplomatic efforts to secure their release.
A senior official of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, idenfified only as "Y," reportedly resigned in late November as a result of this incident, the third "botched spy mission" of Mossad in a year.
After negotiations between Attorney-General Alecos Markides and his Isreali counterpart, Elyakim Rubinstein, espionage charges were dropped and the two men pleaded guilty to lesser charges resulting in a three year prison term handed down in February 1999.
In August 1999,the two men were pardoned by Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides.
A Cypriot government statement said that it was a goodwill gesture toward the new Israeli government of Ehud Barak and that the detention of the men would no longer serve the national interest.
